NBA Legends: Shaq's 17 Greatest Games

Probably because he is the oldest player in the entire NBA now, young fans often dismiss Shaquille O'Neal's greatness. However, it is a mistake to consider any player of the past 18 years as being greater than Shaq.

In fact, O'Neal is the most dominant player of the past 18 years and is tied only with Tim Duncan with three Finals MVP awards.

Shaq was THE man in LA's three-peat from 2000 to 2002. In 2006 he played second fiddle to Wade in the Finals, but they would not have been there without him.

O'Neal has scored more points than any active player with over 28,000 and up until now, he has been basically unstoppable since his rookie year in 1992-93.

It is a testament to his awesome athleticism and intimidation factor that he was playing in the NBA in 1992 and now in 2011, he is on the East's best team so far.

It is a travesty how NBA fans process greatness in 2011, but here we will study Shaq's 17 greatest NBA games ever and we will see what the man accomplished and how easily we forget.

No. 17: February 2009 Vs. Toronto

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This is the last truly awesome game Shaq had and he was already 36 years-old at the time.

While playing for Phoenix, Shaq slaughtered the Raptors with 45 points on 20-for-25 from the field and 5-for-8 from the line. He added 11 rebounds, two assists, three steals and one block in a winning effort.

No. 6: March 2001 Vs. Washington

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In only 38 minutes, Shaq put in 40 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, dished off for eight assists, stole it three times and had five blocks. He was more dominant in every facet of the game, than any star of the 2000's and this is proof.

No. 1: March 2000 at LA Clippers

This is actually the most dominant Lakers performance of the last decade. Kobe's 81 points and one assist against Toronto is surpassed by Shaq's 61 points and 23 rebounds against the Clippers.

Both teams they played against sucked, but Shaq only took 35 shots to get there. He hit 24-35 and therefore only missed nine shots.

This was a comeback game too, as Shaq dieseled his way to an amazing and overlooked performance. But no matter what people try and say, it was never scoring that utterly defined Shaq because he made most of the shots he took. He didn't shoot 45 percent, he shot 59 percent, and that says a lot.

What defined Shaq was utter dominance, and no single player in the post-Jordan era dominated like Shaq, no matter what.

The truth may hurt as much as getting dunked on by Shaq, but it is still the truth.